


Vigil

by Aki_Lynn



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pining, no beta we die like Glenn, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22065115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aki_Lynn/pseuds/Aki_Lynn
Summary: Vigil: a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times.As she slept, he kept his vigil over her.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 10
Kudos: 165





	Vigil

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first time posting to this site. This is also my first time writing anything remotely romantic. However, this idea has been stuck in my head for over a month and one of my New Year Resolutions is to write more this year, so here goes nothing. 
> 
> This is a slight AU, though still mostly follows canon.

Claude felt like he was suffocating. Or maybe it was drowning. Either way, he wasn’t sure if he could stand listening to Count Gloucester and Margrave Edmund arguing for much longer. The two lords have never been in each other’s favor; but with the Count allying himself with the Empire, the arguments had reached a new furor.

From a strictly strategic perspective, the Count’s actions were understandable - justifiable even. However, there wasn’t a single lord at the Roundtable that viewed the action as such. While the decision had spared the citizens of Gloucester from the Emperor’s wrath, all of them, himself included, knew the Count was setting himself up for success should the Alliance fall. Though Claude was trying his best to use the discord to keep Edelgard off their backs, it was starting to look more and more like the Count had chosen the winning side.

“I think that’s enough, Count, Margrave,” Claude interrupted the bickering nobles. Thankfully, the two ceased their arguing, though the Count leveled an unimpressed glare at his direction.

“Certainly, even you can see the merit of my proposal, Duke Riegan,” the Count all but sneered at him with the grace and dignity of a noble. _And I thought Lorenz was insufferable._ “With the collapse of the Kingdom inevitable, the western territories should pledge their allegiance to the Empire or the very least provide concessions to their troops.”

“The Kingdom has not yet fallen, Count Gloucester!” the Margrave interjected, “Lord Fraldarius and Margrave Gautier are still resisting and many of the western lords have long had strong relations with their houses. Some have even offered their support to their houses. Forcing them to concede to the Empire will only serve to spread further panic and confusion among the people.”

“Perhaps. But Fraldarius and Gautier cannot resist for much longer. And once the Kingdom has been completely taken, it is only a matter of time before the Emperor marches against the Alliance,” the Count stated matter-of-factly before turning to Claude to pin him under an ill-concealed look of contempt, “Regardless of the Alliance’s state of neutrality.”

Claude ignored the urge to glare back at the older man. The Count could criticize him all he wants. The fact of the matter was that with no unity within the Alliance, his only option was to use the dissension among the lords to declare neutrality. With Edelgard’s obsession in destroying the Church, it gave him time to come up with a strategy to turn the tides. Unfortunately, without a central force to unite them, there was no way for them to put up a sufficient front for a proper resistance. As much as he tried in the beginning of the war, Claude knew that he could not be that force, not alone.

 _But there’s someone I_ **know** _who could._ He immediately shoved that thought aside, unable to go down that train of thought again. Not right now.

Thankfully, he was spared the need to respond when the Margrave leveled a curt look at the Count, “How unsurprising for a man who turned his back on his faith to have so little in others.”

Count Gloucester visibly bristled at the jab. Despite his allegiance to the Empire, it was well-known that the Count was a devout follower of the Church. _Though perhaps not quite devout enough._

Recognizing that the cycle was just going to start again, Claude intervened, “As I said, that’s enough. Without the western lords present, this argument is pointless. We will summon the lords here for a conference to discuss this matter. For now, I suggest we reconvene in two weeks when the western lords arrive.”

Mercifully, the others agreed and began to file out of the room. With a quick word to the Count and Margrave to send his greetings to Lorenz and Marianne, Claude left as well with Nardel following.

Once out of earshot, Nardel shook his head. “I swear those nobles are worse than the governors. How in the world have they been able to fend off Almyran attacks this entire time?”

Claude smirked at the general, “Simple. Holst doesn’t have to attend the Roundtable meetings. He just has to hang out at the Locket.”

“‘Suppose that makes sense” Nardel chuckled, “Bloody demon, that one.”

As they entered the Riegan Estate, Nardel turned to Claude with a somber expression. “I suppose you’ll be visiting again tonight.”

“Just a short one,” Claude let out a sigh, his thoughts already wandering to places they shouldn’t, “I have quite a few reports to go through tonight as well as the summons for the western lords.”

Nardel gave him a long look before sighing himself. “Look, kiddo-”

“I’ll be fine, _Nardel_ ,” Claude stressed the name, “I won’t be there long.”

Taking the hint, Nardel let out a gruff huff of discontent, but nevertheless conceded and bid _Master_ Claude a goodnight before heading to perform his own duties.

Sighing again, Claude made his way up to the third floor of the estate and entered the room that, for the last five years, had been both his place of solace and his own personal hell.

The room was small, simple even, compared to the rest of the grandeur of the Riegan Estate. Still, the room had a sense of elegance that the Academy dorms didn’t. Rich furnishings decorated the room with black and gold, proof of the nobility of the estate.

But all of it paled in comparison to the prone figure that rested on the bed.

A small nod towards the servant found Claude alone in the room. Sitting down in the chair next to the bed, he kept his gaze on the woman in front of him.

Unsurprisingly, Byleth remained in a state of repose. As she had for half a decade.

Claude still remembered the day they found her. A few days after the battle at Garreg Mach, as he and the rest of the Golden Deer were just about to make their way back to the Alliance, rumor of a woman found in the river stopped them in their tracks. Once they had realized their professor had gone missing after the battle and reports of her falling off the cliff, they had searched tirelessly for her. Yet they only came up empty-handed. This rumor had been their last resort before heading to the safety of Alliance territory. It had been their last hope.

The joy Claude had felt when he saw her was indescribable. The thought of losing her… He had already experienced that when she had disappeared in Solon’s spell. Thankfully, it had only been a brief moment, but he never wanted to experience that feeling again. And her disappearing again after the battle had plunged his heart into an icy cold. But finding her, seeing her again, that was his wake-up call for him. All at once he realized how much he had come to depend on her, trust her, believe in her.

He came to realize just how much he loved her.

However, that joy of finding her quickly diminished when it became apparent that something was wrong with her. She remained unconscious despite being fished out of the river for days. That coupled with her wounds had led them to one logical conclusion.

She was comatose.

The reality of their professor being in a coma quickly sunk their spirits. And with the Empire still around the monastery, they couldn’t afford to linger in despair. Claude remembered how he argued with Seteth and Alois that day, begging them to allow him and the Deer to take her back to the Alliance. They couldn’t afford Byleth to fall into Edelgard’s hands and despite what Seteth thought, the Knights couldn’t protect her, not with how fierce the Emperor’s pursuit of the Church’s destruction was. Plus, it would be easier to hide Byleth in the Alliance. With a few oaths of secrecy, the only ones who knew of Byleth’s survival were Seteth, Alois, the Golden Deer and a few members of the Riegan Estate. For the rest of Fodlan, she had been officially announced dead by the Knights of Seiros.

When they had brought her back to Derdriu, his grandfather had been shocked by Claude’s request to keep her in secret. Though initially hesitant to grant such a request, Duke Riegan had allowed for it, helped him even, by figuring out the most loyal servants in the estate to attend to her. He had told Claude on his deathbed that he did it because he had the same look in his eyes as his mother when she told him she was going to run off and marry his father.

Returning to the present, Claude took in her unchanged appearance. As the weeks stretched into months and then into years, many of his fellow Golden Deer gave up hope on her waking up. They visited less and less, partially due to their duties, but also due to their lack of belief in her ever waking up.

However, Claude refused to believe that she wouldn’t wake up. As her sleep grew longer and longer, he noticed how unnatural it was. She wasn’t aging. Her hair and nails did not grow. As she slept, she remained completely unchanged. It was as if she was frozen in time: some sort of stasis instead of the coma they had believed she was in. As strange as it was, it only fueled his hope. Whatever this was, she **would** wake up.

That didn’t mean it was easy for him.

Everyday, he hoped that it would be the day she’d wake up, and everyday he was met with the soul-crushing disappointment of her seemingly unending sleep. That combined with the neverending frustration of the war had slowly chipped away at his resolve over the years. However, in spite of that, in spite of the pleas to let her go, he clung to his belief in her in a devout desperation he never thought he was capable of.

Shaking those thoughts away, he lightly grasped her hand - as he did everyday - and regaled her with events of the day, making sure to keep the carefree smile on his face as if he was complaining to her back in the Academy.

As he concluded his explanation of the Margrave’s and Count’s bickering, the smile slipped from his face and he gripped her hand just a tad tighter.

“You know, Teach,” he gazed blankly at the wall, unseeing, “I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up. As much of a pain Count Gloucester is, he’s right. It’s only a matter of time before Edelgard has the Kingdom completely under her control, and then she’s going to set her sights on us. And without the Alliance unified…”

Eyes closed, Claude took in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh.

“Teach, we could really use you right now. My schemes can only get us so far, but without you, I don’t know if… I don’t...” Claude grimaced as he looked back down on the sleeping woman.

“Teach, the Alliance needs you. Fodlan needs you. Hell, the world needs you,” he told her desperately, each word growing louder than the next until silence filled the room once again.

After a moment, his hand joining the one grasping hers, he continued.

“I need you,” he confessed in such a small, quiet voice, “I need you so damn much, Byleth. I don’t know if I can keep doing this without you.”

There was another silent pause as he bowed his head and gripped her hand even tighter.

“So please,” he pleaded in that quiet voice, “Please, Byleth. Please wake up.”

The silence was deafening as the moment stretched into eternity.

Claude let out a hollow chuckle, “I suppose me begging isn’t going to help, is it Teach?”

With a rueful smile, he placed her hand back at her side as he stood up. “The Millennium Festival is next week. I hope you’ll be able to make it. I’m sure everyone would love to see you.” He hoped - hoped as much as his dreams - that she’d be awake in time for the festival. He wasn’t sure if he could handle another year of this torture.

Before he left, he looked at her one more time. Seeing her in such a peaceful sleep reminded him once again of some old fairytale he heard as a child: one about a cursed princess and a prince that kissed her awake. _What nonsense._ He shook his head at the thought.

Nevertheless, he bent down to place a feather-light kiss to her temple and whispered the same thing he did every night since he brought her here.

“Sweet dreams, Byleth. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

* * *

“Just how long do you intend to sleep?”

_That voice. I know that voice._

“It’s time to wake up. The people of this world are suffering. They are weeping. Even as they kill to survive, they weep in sorrow and despair.”

_I don’t understand. I’m still so tired._

“You foolish child! You haven’t changed one bit! Get up on your feet right now! I will not coddle you anymore! Besides, I think you’ve made him wait long enough.”

_Made who wait?_

* * *

Waking up was strange. The depths of sleep clung with a viciousness, yet the awareness of being awake was sharp and bright. The resulting sensation made Byleth groan as she came to consciousness.

Disoriented, Byleth’s mind slowly registered that she was awake and her senses gradually returned.

The first thing she sensed was comfort. She was warm, laying on something soft with silk wrapped around her. A bed? It was soft, softer than the one she had at the Academy.

_The Academy… The Academy!_

Memories shot through her brain as she tried her best to make sense of what happened.

_The tomb, Edelgard’s betrayal, the monastery under attack, Rhea’s transformation, the dark mage…_

Forcing her eyes open, Byleth was greeted to an unfamiliar room. The richness and elegance wasn’t of the religious variety. _A noble’s home then? But why?_ For a brief moment, she thought she had been captured by Edelgard’s forces. But if she had been captured, why was she in a well-furnished room and not a cell? She knew Edelgard favored her, even when she did not choose her house, but surely Edelgard was not so foolish as to leave her unattended and unbound.

As she tried to orient herself - dully noting she was dressed in comfortable, yet simple black clothes as she sat up - the door opened.

The middle-aged woman stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Byleth. There was a look of complete disbelief on her face; eyes wide and mouth gaping as if she had forgotten to breathe.

There was a moment of awkward silence as they stared at one another, neither sure or capable of saying anything.

Byleth, still feeling disconnected and sluggish, made to speak, but was cut off by the woman’s breathless voice.

“You’re awake… Goddess, you’re awake.”

Somehow, the confusion must have been evident in Byleth as the woman finally composed herself.

“My apologies, my lady,” she bowed, clearly bewildered and nervous as she spoke, “It’s just that you’ve been for so long that… I feared the Duke… Oh Goddess, the Duke!”

As some sort of realization came over the woman, she became even more flustered. Byleth simply watched, a bit stunned, as the woman quickly bowed to her again and raced out the room, telling her to wait right there.

Thoroughly even more confused, Byleth made to move off the bed, only to find her body sore and stiff. And not the sore and stiff from battle, but the one from being bedridden. Odd.

That wasn’t the only thing odd.

_Where am I? What happened? Did Edelgard win? Are the students alright?_

A thousand questions ran rampant through her head as she once again made to move off the bed. Despite still sluggish and slow, she managed to get herself to the edge of the bed.

As she was about to stand, a belated thought crossed her mind.

_Duke? Which duke was she talking about? The only duke I really know of is…_

Her thought was cut off by the sound of rushing feet and the door opening again.

Byleth felt herself tense as she looked at the man that clearly ran to her room. He was well-dressed, decorated even, like some foreign noble. Dark hair tastefully tousled and a well groomed beard, the man was unknown to her. And yet, she felt a strong sense of familiarity looking into his deep green eyes that were filled with awed disbelief.

A second later, she almost reeled at the soft, _genuine_ smile that graced his face as he spoke,

“You overslept, Teach. Pretty rude to keep a fella waiting like that, wouldn't you say?”

_Wait. Teach? He can’t be…_

“What's with that surprised look, my friend?” he continued, “You didn't really think I'd given up — on you coming back, did you?”

While shock and confusion flooded her mind, Byleth didn’t even feel the smile forming as a surge of happiness filled her.

“Claude.”

There was unadulterated joy in Claude’s eyes as his smile widened. He reached out his hand towards her. Grasping it, she was pulled to a stand and into a hug that would have surprised her if she hadn’t been so happy to see him, safe and whole.

“The others?”

“They’re safe, don’t worry,” he assured her, holding her just a bit tighter as if he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go. She almost missed the quiet whisper of, “I missed you, Teach.”

Unconsciously, she gripped him tighter. She was still confused and dreading the answers as to what happened, but that didn’t matter right now. He was safe. Her students were safe. And that’s all that mattered.

They stayed that way for a long moment before Claude lightly chuckled.

“You know, we’ve got to get ready soon, Teach.”

Byleth pulled back just enough to look at him, question in her eyes. He was smiling again, though this time with a hint of the mischievousness she had come to know him for.

“We got a promise to keep.”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, never really wrote romance before, so this was a new experience for me. However, FE:TH blindsided me with Claude and five months later I still love the character and ship Claudeleth **hard**. Which is weird since I'm not that much of a shipper, but damn is Claudeleth goals. Which is why I posted it here, since there seems to be more Claudeleth support. However, like I said, I never posted here before, so I hope I did it right.
> 
> Happy New Year Everyone!


End file.
